By Jason Kim: To beat soon to be 35-year-old Erik Morales (51-7, 35 KO’s), Argentinian Lucas Matthysse (28-2, 26 KO’s) has to come out of the blocks fast and focus on setting a really strenuous pace to wear Morales down in the last half of their fight on September 17th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Morales is getting another chance at winning a belt after failing in his last fight against Marcos Maidana for the World Boxing Association light welterweight interim title last April. This time Morales is getting a chance at capturing the WBC light welterweight title in the Matthysse fight.

However, Morales is going to have to be able to fight hard for the full 12 rounds against the 28-year-old Matthysse, because Morales can’t fade again like he did in his last fight against Maidana. Matthysse has the same kind of over as Maidana, but is a better overall fighter with superior accuracy.

Morales won’t have nearly as big advantage in the boxing skills department than he had against Maidana. Matthysse does everything well – jab, move, defend and punch with power. He’s going to make it tough on Morales that’s for sure. This could down down to whether or not Morales can throw enough punches to get the decision.

Fighting in only brief spurts – usually near the ends of the round – won’t be enough for Morales to get the decision in this fight. Morales has to be able to fight for the full three minutes of every round because if he goes into shutdown, Matthysse will drill him to pieces. If Morales thinks his right eye was badly swollen in his last fight against Maidana it’s going to be much worse if Matthysse is able to tee off on Morales for 12 rounds.